The present invention relates to medical pumps for the delivery of medicines to patients under controlled rates and dosages and in particular to a pump adapted for remote loading and set up.
Medical pumps, such as syringe pumps or peristaltic infusion pumps, are known for computer-controlled delivery of medication or contrast agents (henceforth drugs) to patients over a period of time. Typically the drug is delivered in a syringe (for a syringe pump) or a flexible bag (for peristaltic infusion pump) that may be connected to an IV line attached to a needle for insertion into the patient. When a nurse or other healthcare professional ministering to the patient receives the drug, the healthcare professional reviews the drug description for correctness and enters the desired dose and rate into the pump. The syringe or IV line must then be mechanically connected to the pump mechanism and the mechanism activated to begin pumping.
The process of programming pumps and mechanically attaching the drug container (syringes or bags and IV lines) to the pump mechanism can be time-consuming and exacting. In a large facility, there may be multiple different pump designs and models and a given healthcare professional ministering to a patient may be called upon only occasionally to work with any given type of pump. This variation in pump types can increase the time required to properly initialize and connect the pump mechanism, and create errors in dose programming or mechanical installation that can carry with them significant risks to the patient and/or cause waste of the necessary drug. Failure to properly set up or connect the drug container to the pump can raise safety issues.
The difficulties of setting up and programming pumps can also be a problem when the pumps are used in a home setting. In such cases, normally a nurse will deliver and attend to the proper initialization of the pump.